bought another bike...
 

well as some of you know, i blew the motor on my track oriented hawk. after replacing the motor with a motor that previously had a CCT failure that the PO failed to mention :mad: i decided to cut my losses and go back to only having one hawk.

but then.... i decided i really wanted another VTR. although i picked up a slightly different VTR this time....

really clean 2004 Nicky Hayden edition RC51 SP2 :D
Attachment 22406

threw her on the dyno at work with great results. 125 hp and 70 ft lbs
the best part is the amazingly flat torque curve with 60 ft lbs pretty much out of the gate. plus a really smooth power curve all the way up the rev range. i love twins!

Attachment 22407

the RC is a bike ive wanted for a long time. not as a replacment for the hawk but a different breed sorta speak. loving the bike so far! its hard to compare it to the hawk as its a totally different type of ride. deffinatley a race track pedigree in the RCs chassis. its a harsh ride at anything less than a pretty quick pace. its not the all around machine we all know and love with the hawk. its designed for one purpose and thats to haul ass around a track. im pretty stoked to own both the VTRs. i might end up selling the Duc although that has another place in my heart so im not sure yet.

its tough as ive already got all these mods going through my mind for the RC, although im gonna attempt at leaving it to just lightweight wheels, suspension, high mount exhaust and a power commander with a custom tune, plus the radial MC and SS brake lines i have. also maybe a lightened flywheel and a slipper clutch. and maybe a quick shifter, oh and change the gearing. oh and possibly...... ah shoot im already screwed....

Very nice .
Is this your new track bike ?

I hate you Scobey !

But as I have now disposed of the Tuono I have some cash in the cunning kick that the missus is not aware of so who knows!!!!

Prices here in Oz are steep but things are slow so maybe!

Like you the Storm is special to me but variety is the spice of life and the Storm and Duc are the constants for me.

Good luck with the new bike, it looks to be a pearler( translate Oz slang for Good)

Nice :)

Dick...........


I mean congrats :) :lol:

congrats!

Yeah I've thought myself building up a track VTR or just getting the RC51 instead

Dope! When I purchased the Superhawk, this beast was still 6months out and I couldn't wait. I still want one. I'm a Hayden fan too, so that one is special! Maybe one day.

Beautiful. What a sport hawk wants to be

Very nice and clean Hawk! Congrats on the purchase...

Gorgeous bike. A guy at the track is selling one fully raced prepped but with street fairings.

I have always called it the super hawk's stripper sister.

Stunning bike, congrats :) Kinda strange, but I always enjoyed my Shawk more than the sp2, even at the track......but I'm old.......

I don't know but it seems that the Sp would sort of be like doing your girls younger sister.

Not kosher , but fun while you are at it!

That's how I feel when I ride the 848 after the VTR!

Please let us know how it feels compared to your VTR Scobey.

And yes I still hate you you lucky man!

Haha..... man i know the feeling you want to MOD everything

Ahh, the "mighty" RC!

I spent some quality time on board this oneAttachment 22396. Absolute brick shit house! Cut down Sato carbon pipes made this the best sounding motorcycle on the planet (for me) until a local guy piped a Ducati 1098...

Nice bike! Enjoy it. And btw, watch for an issue with wires chaffing near the back of the tank. It left my buds dead on the way to a bike show one year.

The RC made the Smart Money column in Motorcyclist magazine - Dec '14, the Superhawk was in there also!

One of the best looking bikes ever offered to the public IMO

thanks for all the love gents!

shes a beauty for sure Mik! been in love with it ever since i was a kid watching edwards beat the Ducs at their own game.

Ken, its a whole different ball game with the RC. similar power as your 848 but a bit heavier. although it doesnt feel to heavy, just very stable. its hard to really rattle its cages. ive noticed that you deffinatley have to pick a line and stick with it. theres not a whole lot of mid corner correction to be had. but it feels very stable in the turns and completley settled while getting on the gas hard on corner exit.

race track pedigree no doubt. i never get tired of the swingarm ha. still though, i ride the badest bikes every day at work and you just cant compare the RC to those. the 1199 is SO light and SO powerful but its almost hard to ride fast. one of our shops racers only does 1 second quicker laps on his 749R race bike vs his 1199 race bike at big willow. sometimes all that power just gets you down the straights a bit quicker but hurts you in the turns. plus im not a huge fan of the monocoque chassis on the Panis. anyway the point being that sometimes its easier to ride fast with less power to the wheel. the RC i think can be compared most to a 999R.

the RC is exactley what i want it to be. nothing more. nothing less. with a few mods like forged rims and a power commander, i think i can do well with her at the track. im gonna try and refrain from all the trick bits on this one though. there is a lot more offered in the aftermarket department for the RC than for the VTR and i could easily spend 10 grand or more on it with all the carbon fiber airbox, relocated fuel tanks, dummy fuel tanks, front mount rads, etc etc etc. but i think ill put maybe about 3k into it on a few items that make the most difference and then TRY to leave it at that. of course i say that now....

you may want to do a search to find what RCVTR had done to his (had posted the info here some time back), he had an absolutely fantastic RC.......

thanks for that! checked out his build thread on here. really impressive. thats what im worried about though. theres so many options for aftermarket parts. i will say that the market is probably drying up more than in the past with options for the RC but still much more performance parts available. the fact that the VTR has limited aftermarket parts is sort of nice in that it keeps me from spending rediculous amounts of money.

the RC is notoriously expensive to improve on with very diminishing returns after a few choice upgrades. i think the idea that one could make it competitive with modern liter I-4's is appealing but not realistic. but OCMD is a sickness that i have to live with nonetheless. i always envy the guys that can stick a fender eliminator kit and a set of pipes on their bike and be done.

yeah, i got me a new twin too...
 

.. but I'm sure gonna miss the candy Tahitian blue... (snif,snif)




http://www.cycleworld.com/videos/dyn...o__ebr_1190rx/

Damn, nice bike man.

I sense you'll for get it every time you twist the throttle.... Nice bike (and dyno numbers)!

I'll say he won't (forget it)! That riding position looks quite a bit more aggressive than the Hawk.
Nice bike though. Insane torque!

Thanks, all. I'm enjoying it. Yes, it's a race bike vs. the VTR's all round goodness, but the position is not all that much more pretzeled, at least for this 6'3" 240# guy. I'm still breaking her in, but yeah, there's a bit more steam in her... rode home in the wet on traction control 20, out of 20. Rode the local twisty route on 10... it's hard to be smooth with so much torque, tbh. I took to leaving it in gear concentrating on chicken strip removal as opposed to outright speed. Can't wait to open her up, she's not seen the steep part of the curve but 3 times - all three times the TC came on ;-)


Now I just gotta get off my rear and take pics and post up all the VTR bits and goodies I have laying around for all of you to snap up. Sargeant seat, BMC race air filter, 4 ultra oil filters, chain and lower gearing set, fork brace, windshields, helibars w/ brake lines, sparkplugs, brakepads, velocity stacks, trucker manual CCT's, rims set, bearings, headlight bulbs etc. etc.

YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhh.......!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!WAY TO SCORE..